k some heat from multiple stakes winner Dearest through splits of

TORONTO -- With their run to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals last spring, Raptors guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry received a detailed education in playoff basketball. En route to gold at the Summer Olympics in Rio, Torontos All-Star teammates got what coach Dwane Casey considers the best graduate course they could take.Now, as a new season approaches, DeRozan and Lowry hope theyll get a shot to finish at the top of the NBA heap and earn that coveted class ring.Me personally, I think its time, Lowry said as Toronto opened training camp Monday. I want a ring, I want to win a championship.Five years after going 22-60, the Raptors won a franchise-record 56 games last season and captured their third straight Atlantic Division title. They advanced in the playoffs for the first time since 2001 with a Game 7 victory over Indiana, then pushed past Miami in another Game 7 to reach the conference finals, winning Games 3 and 4 at home to even things up with eventual champion Cleveland.It taught us a lot about our basketball abilities, Lowry said of the deepest postseason run in Raptors history. It taught us the mental capacity we have to have, the physical strength and the body maintenance we have to have. It taught us a whole lot and it definitely prepared us for the upcoming season. Rio actually helped us even more. I know (DeMar) feels really good about his game and the level hes playing at, and I feel good about the level Im playing at.Its never being satisfied with `OK, we did this. Whats next? Weve got to find it. Weve got to figure out whats next and get to that next level.Besides his gold medal, DeRozan earned further riches with the five-year, $139 million deal he signed to stay in Toronto without testing the free-agent market. But all summer long, armed with his new understanding of the playoff blueprint, DeRozan burned to get back to work in Toronto.As crazy as it sounds, even during the Olympics as we were playing and practicing, at the same time I was working toward this season, understanding what I need to do to get better, DeRozan said. Working on my body, working on everything that needs to be done for me to be able to withstand another long season and get back to the point we were at. It was great having my teammate there at the same time and being able to talk about what we need to do to be better.Casey, who received a three-year, $18 million extension this offseason, continues to be impressed with the maturation of his two main stars.Theyre growing up, Casey said. Theyre men now. I can just see the confidence over the past few years, not just last year, of them establishing themselves as two of the top players in the league, establishing this team. No longer do they have to go out and prove that theyre two of the top players.Both Lowry and DeRozan struggled offensively at times during the playoffs, but each battled through tough stretches to provide key performances later on. Their will to win impressed forward Jared Sullinger when the Raptors came calling in free agency.These guys didnt care about stats, said Sullinger, who left Boston for a one-year deal with Toronto. What they cared about was winning and they found a way to win every freaking night. Thats what separates them from a lot of the teams that went out and tried to get me.Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who signed off on Torontos summer spending, considered it necessary after watching several conference rivals swap stars and restock rosters.The East got better, Ujiri said. People talk about the West and talk about the West. Well, the East is creeping up now. We recognize that its going to be harder. Discount New Balance UK . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Wholesale NBA Shoes UK . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. http://www.newbalancesaleuk.com/ . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. New Balance UK Outlet . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Cheap New Balance Shoes UK . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Lucy N Ethel won the first three starts of her career in a seven-week period. After missing eight months due to an ankle chip, the 3-year-old Lucy N Ethel picked up where she left off, scoring a front-running, half-length 22-1 upset victory in Sundays Grade 2, $300,000 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga.Hustled to the front out of the gate by Jose Lezcano, Lucy N Ethel took some heat from multiple stakes winner Dearest through splits of 22.05 seconds for the quarter-mile and 44.96 for the half-mile but kept going, keeping Dearest at bay to the wire.Lucy N Ethel, a daughter of During, covered the six furlongs in 1:09.33 and returned $47.40 to win.Dearest finished second by 2 3/4 lengths over Takrees, who got third by a neck over Off the Tracks, the 2-1 favorite. She was followed, in order, by Kareena, Coniah, One True Kiss, Lost Raven, Coppa, and Appealing Maggie.Lucy N Ethel is owned and bred by Steven Perrys J A G Racing and James Stevensons Jettany Thoroughbred Corp.Though she had been trained by Ramon Preciado for her first three starts, Chloe Bradley -- Preciados longtime assistant -- was the trainer of record for this race. Preciado is facing 270 days worth of suspensions for multiple clenbuterol positives though he has a valid trainers license in Pennsyylvania and New York.dddddddddddderry said Bradley has been training Lucy N Ethel at a farm in Westhampton, N.J., though Lucy N Ethel shows workouts at Parx.Perry said that after Lucy N Ethel had a chip removed from an ankle she did her rehabilitation at a farm in Ocala, Fla. Perry said the horse was then sent to Bradley at the New Jersey farm.When we sent her from the farm in Ocala to the farm in Jersey Chloe was at the farm taking care of a string of horses, Perry said. It felt comfortable for us.Perry said he had hoped Lucy N Ethel could run in a race before the Prioress. Lucy N Ethel was scratched out of the Aug. 14 Blue Sparkler Stakes at Monmouth Park because track officials there werent sure who was actually training the horse, Bradley or Preciado.New York stewards said they talked to New Jersey investigators, who confirmed that Lucy N Ethel was based on the Westhampton, N.J. farm. Bradley has a valid receipt as an owner/trainer in New York.This filly could be in Ramons hands or Chloes hands. She was an assistant to Ramon for a long time, Perry said. She could go back to Ramon. Were a group. Were connected.- additional reporting by Jim Dunleavy ' ' '